Effects of experience, eating habits, and way of drinking on sake preference

Abstract

Palatability of food is affected by not only taste, but also physiological alteration after ingestion. To understand whether the palatability of sake in the oral sensation is also affected by its ingestion, we examined the relation between the preference order based on the preference test without swallowing sake and that based on the intake volume for 1 hr in experienced sake tasters and sake beginners. We also investigated whether the palatability of sake in humans is similar to that in rats, whose preference is mostly attributed to the instinctive and physiological appetite. In the experienced sake tasters under fasting condition, the preference rank based on the intake volume was not affected by the ingestion of sake, which did not correspond to the rat preferences. The preference rank of the sake beginners under fasting differed between the experiments with or without swallowing sake, while their preference rank after eating was independent of the way of drinking. The preference rank of the sake beginners under fasting is affected by the way of drinking, but that of the experienced sake tasters remained unchanged.